


twelve hours, three minutes

by alto (themorninglark)



Category: Free!
Genre: Episode 11, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 17:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2317109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/alto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Late at night, after the fireworks, Makoto wakes up and makes a phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	twelve hours, three minutes

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning to write anything before Episode 12, but... this was in my system and I wanted to get it out. So here we go. The slightly more extended story of what happened after the fireworks.
> 
> This can be read as a companion piece to my Episode 11 retelling fic [well, say something](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2294327), and was partly inspired by this wonderful fic about what happens in Australia, [Open Water](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2314121/).
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr: http://themorninglark.tumblr.com/

**10 minutes**

Makoto’s gone no longer than ten minutes without Haru’s presence when he starts to feel the pang.

He knows Haru will be fine. Heck, hadn’t he just said to Haru that he has the strength to find his dream? Haru has inner reserves of iron will and sheer, headstrong grit that Makoto can only dream of.

It’s just that this is Obon, and much as he enjoys Nagisa and Rei’s company, he’s never gone through an Obon Festival without Haru at his side the whole time. Especially after Haru’s grandmother passed on, Obon’s been a time for Makoto to stand by him as they remember her together. Even next year, when he’s in Tokyo, Makoto knows he’ll return to Iwatobi for the summer to spend Obon with his family, and with Haru. _If Haru’s here._

“Mako-chan?”

He glances over to see Nagisa staring up at him with concern. “Do you want to go to Haru-chan’s house?”

Makoto shakes his head quickly. “I think he just needs some space, Nagisa.”

Nagisa gives the smallest of sad smiles. “We always go to Haru-chan’s after Obon and watch movies till we fall asleep.”

“I guess not this year,” says Makoto, looking out onto the water.

 

**2 hours, 54 minutes**

Makoto is at home now curled up in his bed staring at the TV and Nagisa is right, it is decidedly strange not to be at Haru’s after Obon.

Nagisa had decided he couldn’t stand the thought of all splitting up and going home, and Makoto had felt that perhaps the company might be good for him too, so they’d all trooped over to his house instead. He’d called ahead to let his parents know, and they were waiting in the living room when Makoto, Nagisa and Rei returned.

“Ah, Nagisa-kun! And… Rei-kun?”

Rei nodded once, awkwardly. He’s rarely been to Makoto’s.

Makoto’s mother gave him a warm, welcoming smile in return. She craned her neck, looking over Rei’s shoulder at the empty doorway. Makoto knew what she was going to say even before she said it.

“Haru-chan didn’t come?” Half-surprised. Half-shocked. Half… worried? _That’s one too many halves,_ thought Makoto, and then he smiled a little. Haru _was_ one too many halves. His silence belied his quiet, impenetrable depths. Like the sea.

Makoto shook his head. “He’s not feeling well.”

“Oh dear… do you want to bring him some soup?”

“No, he’s gone home to bed. I’ll check on him in the morning.”

They’d headed up to Makoto’s room then, and as was their custom, started watching movies, with one big difference: Makoto absolutely vetoed horror movies this time round.

“My room, my rules!” he’d said firmly to a pouting Nagisa.

What he’d left unsaid was: _and I don’t have Haru to hide behind, this year._

He’s only half paying attention to the baseball movie they’ve got on. Nagisa’s really into it, cheering on the home team, and Rei is making critical commentary on the imperfect form of some of these actors. Makoto thinks that, if Haru was here, he’d probably be objecting to the fact that baseball isn’t played in water.

The thought makes him smile, in spite of everything.

 

**3 hours, 45 minutes**

It’s dark outside, the wee hours of the morning. Makoto rolls over in his bed, listening to Nagisa and Rei’s steady breathing from the futon on his floor. He can’t sleep.

He looks at the clock by his bedside. 2.01 am. Maybe… well, he’ll try.

He picks up his phone and steps quietly out of his room, through the back door of his house into the garden where the goldfish graves lie in the corner. It’s a beautiful, balmy night. Makoto flips his phone open, scrolls through his contacts, and presses the call button.

A grumpy-sounding voice answers. “What, Makoto?”

“Rin.” Makoto pauses. “Are you still awake?”

“Now I am,” says Rin, gruffly.

“I’m sorry.”

Perhaps there’s something in Makoto’s voice that Rin hears. His manner softens, a little. “No, it’s okay. I was still awake. Thinking about something. What do you want?”

“Thinking about something? What were you thinking about?”

“Makoto, you lovesick stalker, you didn’t call me at freaking two o’clock in the morning to ask me what I was thinking about, did you? That’s goddamned creepy.”

Makoto can’t help but laugh at this. “No. But now I want to know anyway.”

Rin makes an exasperated noise. “I got these tickets to Australia in the post and I don’t know what the hell to do.”

“Eh?” Makoto feels like he’s missed something here. “Back up a little?”

“This guy I used to swim with wants me to come and train with him. He’s working with some really high-level people, you know - Olympic coaches, scouts, whatever. I haven’t seen him in a while. I guess it might be good for me to go.”

Makoto senses there’s something else. “But…”

“But… ah, I don’t know what the but is. Maybe I’ll just go.”

Makoto’s mind is racing at this. “Rin, when is the flight?”

“Ah?” There’s a pause.

“Rin!” Makoto nearly yells into the phone. “Haven’t you even checked that?”

“I have a lot on my mind, dumbass!” Rin yells back. “Okay, wait I have the envelope open now. Oh, hell, it’s tomorrow morning. How long does this guy want me to be there? Did he even buy me return tickets? …Oh, wait, yes, one week. I fly all the way there and only get one week? Lame.”

“I think you should go,” says Makoto, firmly. “And you should take Haru.”

There’s a long, long pause at this. If not for the sound of Rin’s breathing on the other end, Makoto might have thought the line had dropped. But he remains silent, and waits for Rin to say something.

“Makoto.” Rin’s voice, when it sounds again, is quieter, and he’s speaking in a tone that will brook no nonsense. “Did something happen with Haru? Did you talk to him?”

Makoto takes a deep breath at this. “I talked to him.”

“And?” Rin barks impatiently.

“And… I think you should bring him to Australia.”

“Makoto, what the hell is going on?”

“You can ask Haru tomorrow. Just do it, okay, Rin?”

“So you want me to show up at his doorstep in the morning, tell him we’re going to Australia and drag him out of the door.” Rin sounds totally incredulous.

“Yeah. Something like that,” says Makoto.

“Does that freak even have a passport?”

“Uh.” Makoto casts his mind back. “Yes. His parents made him make one when they moved. They told Haru that they’d be spending quite a bit of time travelling and might be out of Japan, and he might want to come join them sometime.”

“Did he ever?”

“No. Haru doesn’t really like travelling, I think.”

“Great.” Makoto can almost hear Rin throwing his hands up in the air helplessly. “You want me to show up unannounced at waterboy’s and drag him off to do something he hates. Why don’t you just kill me now? I think it’d be easier.”

“Haru needs this,” Makoto says.

Rin goes quiet at that. There’s another long silence. The chirp of the summer cicadas fills the air. If Makoto closes his eyes, he thinks he might be able to hear the crashing of the waves from the harbour below the stone steps of his house.

He gets the feeling, now, that Rin’s the one waiting for him to continue.

“I think it would be good for Haru to see what things are like somewhere else.”

“Why don’t you just bring him to Tokyo then? Why does he have to go all the way to Australia?” Rin snaps.

Makoto chooses his next words carefully. “I’ve had my turn with Haru. Now it’s over to you.”

“I don’t even - what are you talking about?”

“You’ll see. Just - bring him swimming while you’re there.”

“Well, I’m going to be swimming, and I have no time to babysit him, so he’ll _have_ to come swimming or get lost in Sydney by himself anyway,” says Rin, irritably. “How is his English?”

“Er,” says Makoto. “Bad. But better than mine.”

“That’s not saying anything at all, Makoto!”

“It’s ok. He’ll be with you in the pool all the time. Just watch over him.”

“Tch,” says Rin. “I don’t know what happened, but Haru had better spill some good goss on what went down between the two of you, or this trip with him will have been totally wasted.”

“Thanks, Rin,” says Makoto. “Really. Thank you.”

“Wait, hang on a sec,” Rin interrupts. “What did you call me for in the first place, anyway? Did you want to talk about Haru or something?”

“Kind of. But it’s okay now.” Makoto smiles down the phone.

 

**8 hours, 9 minutes**

Makoto blinks his eyes open. His head hurts from lack of sleep.

He glances down at the floor. Nagisa and Rei are still out cold. The sun is streaming through his blinds as he picks up his clock to check what time it is. _Ugh, how is it only 6 something? Why am I wide awake?_

Even as he thinks that, he knows why. It’s because, if this were a schoolday, he’d be up by now, helping his mother get the twins ready and packing his own school stuff. He does this early so that he’ll have enough time to drop by Haru’s to drag him out of the tub.

He sits bolt upright in bed. _Haru. Rin._

Rin hadn’t said exactly what time the flight was, only that it was in the morning. Had Rin come round to Haru’s to get him yet? Would he really do it?

He would. Makoto has faith in Rin. He’d called him last night because he knows in his gut that Rin cares about Haru too. Of all of them, after Makoto himself, Rin is the one with the deepest connection to Haru, a bond so intrinsic that even years apart couldn’t shake it loose. They speak each other’s language in the water, and to Haru, water is life, more than life.

 _It’s up to you now, Rin. Don’t let me down,_ he thinks fiercely.

He looks at his phone. No texts or calls overnight. Not that he was really expecting to hear anything from Haru. Should he go look for him?

Later. Later in the morning, just to check if Rin’s kept his word. Makoto’s keenly aware that their fight is still too raw and recent, that Haru needs time to heal. That _he_ needs time to heal. He doesn’t know what he’d do now, if he saw Haru’s face, especially if Haru’s been crying.

Makoto lies down in bed again and hugs his spare pillow close.

 

**12 hours, 3 minutes**

This is the longest Makoto has ever gone without talking to Haru.

On days when they’re apart, like if Makoto’s out of town with his family, they always send each other keitai mail. It’s never long, on Haru’s part, just enough for Makoto to know he’s still alive and not pruning in the bathtub.

_Makoto. I’m eating dinner now._

_Makoto. Do you remember where my blue jumper is._

_Makoto. How do I do this homework._

Every mail is a silent, unspoken _I love you._ Makoto knows this, and he’s never pressured Haru for anything more. This is Haru, _his_ Haru, and this is their strange little relationship that’s always been the bedrock of his world.

Twelve hours ticks by, and Makoto’s looking at the clock in his room, not doing anything in particular. He’s halfheartedly making a packing list for Tokyo, but it’s still a good long while before he moves and he knows he has time. Perhaps he should be training, but Nagisa and Rei have gone home still semi-concussed from their late night and Makoto doesn’t think there’s any point in training for a relay by himself.

Ten o’clock. Surely enough time has passed.

Makoto leaps up, and runs out the door of his house, looking up at the stone steps. A summer breeze stirs up the leaves at his feet, gently, and the rustling fills the air. There’s no sign of life. Not even the cats are anywhere to be seen.

He takes the stairs two at a time towards Haru’s house.

Ringing the bell tentatively, he waits. He’s not really expecting an answer, so he circles round to the back door and fishes out Haru’s spare key from under the cat dish and unlocks the door.

The house is silent. Makoto steps softly down the hallway, through to the living room, the kitchen. Nothing, not even the sound of Haru’s breathing. He climbs the stairs to the laundry room, peeks inside, steals a glance inside Haru’s bedroom, spies the unmade bed and the rumpled, piled up blanket, the clothes in a messy heap in a corner, his cupboard half open.

Finally, he stops outside the bathroom, takes a deep breath, and opens the door just enough for his eye to peer through, though he already knows what he will see.

Nothing. The tub is empty, and there’s no one inside.

 _Rin. You came through._ Makoto feels his knees go a little weak, and he’s suddenly leaning against the wall, his back sliding down till he’s sitting on the floor outside, staring down the hallway.

_Haru. You can do this. Go find your dream. And when you do, I’ll be here waiting for you to fly into the future together._

He gets up, walks down the corridor, takes one last glimpse into Haru’s empty room, and heads home with his heart full.


End file.
